About

Be the X the Japanese Think You Are is a phrasal template used in a series of memes showcasing stereotypical depictions of characters who are American, Brazilian, Mexican, German or any other nationality in Japanese media, which urges the reader to strive to be like them. Spawned by a viral Senator Armstrong meme in 2022, the format achieved virality online throughout 2022 and 2023.

Origin

On February 7th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user @high_lethality posted an image of American character Senator Armstrong from the 2013 video game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, captioned "Be the American that Japanese people think you are." The tweet gained over 9,700 retweets and 82,300 likes prior to deletion (shown below).

Spread

On February 9th, 2022, Twitter^[2] user @FuturistDog made the earliest derivative post using the format, pairing the slightly reworded caption with images of Guile from Street Fighter, Keith Howard from Yu-Gi-Oh!, Senator Armstrong and America from Hetalia. While the tweet failed to get significant traction, its screenshots achieved viral spread over the following days and weeks. For example, a February 24th, 2022, post by Instagram^[3] user weebshit received over 7,500 likes in two years (shown below, left).

On April 26th, 2023, Twitter^[4] user @Noonekn79350147 posted a screenshot of @FuturistDog's tweet in which one of the characters was replaced by Ein from the Fist of the North Star anime series. The post (shown below, right) gained over 2,900 retweets and 19,100 likes in one year and was widely circulated online through reposts.

The format saw gradual spread throughout 2022, with users initially inserting American characters from various Japanese media franchises. On September 16th, 2022, iFunny^[5] user Jack_Hanma_ posted a screenshot of the same-day Brazilian version of the meme tweeted^[6] by user @italoCampos682 earlier that day. The post (shown below) received over 11,800 smiles and is the first viral snowclone use of the format.

On April 15th, 2023, meme Twitter^[7] account @ShitpostGate reposted a version of the meme that accrued over 8,700 retweets and 161,000 likes in three months, helping popularize the format (shown below, left). On July 20th, Twitter user @KaneBlueriverCL posted a version featuring Brazilian characters that received over 4,200 retweets and 22,400 likes in one week and helped popularize international versions of the meme in late July 2023 (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References